SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The 13th-ranked Notre Dame baseball team (24-8, 9-7) continued its winning ways at home with a 8-3 win over Wake Forest (28-10, 10-9) Friday night at Frank Eck Stadium. The Irish won their ninth-straight game at home and it was the third-consecutive game they have held their opponents to three runs or less.
John Michael Bertrand had another stellar outing for the Irish in the series opener. He kept the Demon Deacons off the scoreboard over the first six innings as the Irish built their lead. He exited after 6.0 plus innings and allowed one earned run on five hits.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish jumped out in front in the second inning as they loaded the bases with no outs after three straight hits. Jack Zyska scored the game’s opening run on the sacrifice fly from Jack Brannigan. Later in the inning, David LaManna scored on a ground out from Zack Prajzner. After two innings, the Irish led 2-0.
Notre Dame added two more runs in the fourth inning. With runners on first and second, Jared Miller dropped down a sacrifice bunt and the throw got away from the first baseman allowing Miller to advance to second. Zyska scored on the play and LaManna advanced to third. LaManna would score later in the inning on a ground out from Brannigan. After four innings, Notre Dame led 4-0.
Wake loaded the bases and scored a run before the game was halted due to a weather delay. After a 1:10 minute break, Wake scored one more run in the inning and trimmed the Irish lead to 4-2.
The Irish got both runs back and then some as they scored three runs in the bottom of the inning. Nick Juaire tripled in the gap in left center to score Ryan Cole for the first run of the inning. Casey Kmet pinch-ran for Juaire and scored on a sacrifice fly from Brooks Coetzee III. The inning looked to be over as Zyska struck out but catcher’s interference was called and the at-bat continued. Zyska singled up the middle and scored Carter Putz from second.
The Irish got their final run of the night in the eighth as Jared Miller scored on Carter Putz’s bases-loaded walk.
Alex Rao came on after the delay and got the Irish into the final inning. He tossed 2.1 innings of relief with four strikeouts. Jackson Dennies came on to get the final two outs to seal the win.
UP NEXT
The Irish and Demon Deacons will meet on Saturday afternoon for the second game of the weekend series. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. ET and the game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra. Admission is free for all fans this season at Frank Eck Stadium.
—ND—